Gunfire attack at Berlin’s Gay Museum damages artwork after ‘repeated’ threats

A museum in Berlin dedicated to LGBTQ culture was damaged by gunfire last week.

The attack at the Schwules Museum, which translates to ‘Gay Museum’, occurred on 24 February 2023, according to a statement on its website.

Two window panes and the illuminated sign with the Museum’s name, museum reps said.

A piece of art above the front door was also hit by a gunshot: a black triangle made of felt, created for the current exhibition, Queering the Crip, Cripping the Queer, which creators have described as “the first international exhibit exploring the multiple historical, cultural, and political intersections of queerness and disability.”

Located in the Tiergarten district of the German capital, the Gay Museum was founded in 1985 and contains over 1.5 archival items and 20,000 books on homosexuality.

“Berlin police investigated the scene”

The statement on the Schwules website continues: “It is not known exactly when the shots were fired. However, it is assumed that the crime occurred at night. The Gay Museum filed charges against unknown persons. The Berlin police investigated the scene and collected evidence. The full extent and costs of the damage are not yet known.”

The rep added: “Nothing is known about the weapon used, but so far no projectiles have been found at the scene. The board of the Gay Museum assumes this was a targeted attack on the museum. There are currently no leads on the persons who committed the crime. Even though various threats against the Gay Museum are repeatedly registered through phone calls or online comments, there were no specific threats.”

“A clear and present danger to all LGBTQ+ people”

Historian and Gay Museum board member Ben Miller meanwhile told Dazed: “I think it’s important to state that we don’t know who did this or why.

“However, I’m not sure it’s possible to think about this incident without considering the right-wing, anti-queer mobilisation that we’re seeing around the world. And I think it’s fair to say that we are certainly the target of that kind of mobilisation in general.”

Miller added: “It took place in the context of a rising far right, and separately, a rising transphobic backlash. And what I can tell you is that no matter how sensible and theoretically pro-LGB that backlash claims to be, it is a clear and present danger to all LGBTQ+ people. There is no such thing as pro-gay transphobia. Because the people that you end up aligning with to pursue a transphobic agenda would gladly see queer people back in the closet, excluded from public life, and in the most extreme cases eliminated.”

The Gay Museum was previously the targeted by rocks in 2020. An attack involving firearms also occurred in 2016.

Up to four exhibitions are shown simultaneously in an exhibition space of nearly 700 square metres. Last year, it showcased entries for Morepixx?, an international gay fetish photo competition. The winning picture was Polly Dolly’s Motel [above, left] by Romain Berger.

Attitude has approached the Gay Museum for additional comment.